Chapter Fourteen

After completing my notes for the patient I had just seen I asked Marcy about the patient David was seeing. I viewed her electronic record and made my way to the room knowing that I was called in to provide the patient with a nutritional consult for a stomach stapling procedure. I had mixed feelings about these types of procedures and while having the surgery had its benefits, I also knew that some of them were not truly necessary all of the time.

I knocked on the door and walked into the room. David was sitting next to the family explaining the procedure and discussing the risk factors. He glanced up from his paperwork as I entered and simply smiled. Once he finished his explanation he turned the floor over to me. I introduced myself and started with the routine clear liquid regimen for the first four to six weeks depending on how they were doing. I then went over the next phase which was solid foods.

The family listened intently, asking questions periodically while jotting down n